Severe Weather

The Maryland Zoo tries to keep animals cool

The heat and humidity is brutal for people, but it's also uncomfortable and possibly dangerous for animals.

The staff at The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore takes extra precautions in this weather to make sure their animals stay safe.

In the water is the only place to be during this heat wave if you're a polar bear at the zoo. Zookeepers said most of the animals slow down in weather like this.

"There's a lot of lying around. I saw all 11 chimps yesterday lying under the sprinkler maybe playing in the mud occasionally, but just definitely dozing all throughout the day," said Julie Grove with The Maryland Zoo.

So the staff keeps an extra close eye on the animals and their behavior, even when they're in the shade, to make sure they don't get overheated.

"We also do a lot with hoses sprinklers and then, also if it's really hot, we'll give animals access to their indoor holding, which is cooler in most cases, and (we'll) even bring some animals into indoor exhibits if we have to," Grove said.

When it gets really hot, the zookeepers make giant ice treats for the animals with all of their favorite foods inside.

"The polar bears -- we're going to fill them with their favorite (food), which is fish. With the lions, we might make a nice big bloodsickle and for the chimps, Cheerios apples and bananas," Grove said.

One particular group of penguins are from Africa so they're more used to the high temperatures, but this weather is too hot even for them so they spend most of their time in the water. The zoo is in the process of building them a new habitat, so in a couple of years, they'll have a better place to cool off.

"We're actually going to have air conditioning inside the new exhibit, so the keepers and the birds will actually be able to get out of the heat and the pool will have the ability to be a little bit chiller than this one would be now, since there's no filtration on this pool," said Jen Kottyan with The Maryland Zoo.

Until then, they and the zoo animals under their care will be waiting for the heat to break, like most others.

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